An important part of a livable city is the street furniture infrastructure (benches, bike rings, transit shelters, litter receptacles etc.) that we use every day. I am happy to share that the City will begin installing new street furniture across Ward 18 this year, improving our main streets and making it easier to live in our city. You can find a map of the planned installation by clicking here.

I am happy to share that major work on the College Promenade Streetscaping project is now complete! Approved in early July 2016, the College Promenade Business Improvement Area (BIA) has been undertaking a streetscape beautification and improvement initiative which includes new decorative sidewalk pavers and curbs, attractive light fixtures, additional trees, planting bike rack, public art and a series of "Blue Room" parkettes.

Designed by local artist Stanislav Jurkovic, the parkettes will include new custom seating and artwork combined with signature painting and lighting features, adding a decorative touch of new vibrancy in the community. Major works on these parkettes is now complete and crews will wrap up minor works including painting in the spring to ensure the highest quality of these finishes.

Work on the project in 2017 was completed through a series of phased stages to minimize impacts to local residents and businesses and I want to thank residents and local businesses and everyone for their patience during this project.

I look forward to updating you on the parkette completion in the spring and I encourage you to talk a walk on our beautiful new College Street and support our amazing local businesses!

The College Promenade Business Improvement Area (BIA) approved a streetscape project that broke ground in early July 2016. The project included replacing the existing curb and sidewalks with decorative pavers on College St. between Shaw St. and Havelock St; TTC accessibility improvements; new side-street parkettes; light fixtures; additional trees; plantings; bike rings; and public art.

In October 2016, the City terminated its contract with the contractor following several issues associated with the project. Earlier in May, City Council voted to ban the contractor from any City of Toronto tender calls as a General Contractor or Sub-Contractor, until February 8, 2020. The City of Toronto, hired a new contractor and will re-start the streetscape improvements on College Street West between Shaw Street and Havelock Street this month on June 19, 2017. Work is expected to be completed by October 2017.

Unlike 2016, this work will be staged into blocks to allow for on-street parking in areas where work is not taking place and to minimize disruptions to residents and businesses. Pedestrian access to businesses and residences will remain open at all times, with some adjustments around work areas. College St will be limited to one lane only in work areas only and the TTC streetcar service will be replaced with buses through the work area. 

You can view the construction notice for this project here. The you can also view an FAQ sheet with more detailed information by clicking here.

With winter just around the corner, the City of Toronto is gearing up to deal with the impacts of winter – both on city streets and beneath them. The work includes managing snow and ice on city streets, and responding to the effects of cold weather on the City's watermains and water service pipes.

Cold weather and rapid swings between thaw and freezing temperatures can cause an increase in watermain breaks. Toronto Water staff are ready to respond to service calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The City is also offering tips to help residents prevent their pipes from freezing.

"We never know exactly what winter holds for us, but we're prepared with a comprehensive plan to tackle the challenges. Toronto Water crews are ready to respond, and we have a number of contingency contracts in place in case we need extra support," said Councillor Jaye Robinson (Ward 25 Don Valley West), Chair of the City's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee. "And, as always, we have a full complement of winter operations equipment including about 600 snow plows, 300 sidewalk plows and 200 salt trucks to help keep the roads and sidewalks safe and passable during the winter season."

The City's first priority during a snowfall is to keep the main roads clear for emergency and TTC vehicles. After that, crews move on to the local roads and usually complete clearing those roads between 14 and 16 hours after the storm ends.

As soon as the snow begins to fall, Transportation Services sends its fleet of salt trucks to the expressways and main roads. Local roads and laneways are salted soon after the main roads. When two centimetres of snow has accumulated, plowing begins on the expressways and, when five centimetres has accumulated, plowing begins on the main roads. Plowing on the expressways and main roads continues until the operation is complete.

This winter, the City has also identified a priority network of bike lanes and cycle tracks in the downtown core that will continue to receive enhanced winter maintenance, including snow plowing and salting to improve safety for cyclists.

Local road plowing begins when the snow stops falling and if the snow accumulation reaches at least eight centimetres. During this time, as staff focus on planned snow-clearing routes, snow service requests will not be taken by 311. Residents are also asked not to call 311 during the storm to ask when their street will be plowed. Residents should call 311 only to report urgent winter-related calls in addition to other matters apart from storm response.

Residents can help out this winter by doing a few things to assist with the City's snow-clearing efforts, including not pushing snow back onto the road, avoiding parking on city streets to help the plows do their work and taking public transit.

The City will only open/clear driveway windrows where it is mechanically possible to do so after eight centimetres of snow have fallen. Typically, driveway windrows are opened between one and two hours after the road being plowed. The service is meant to only open up a width of about three metres – not the full width of the driveway. This program does not take place in the central core of the city due to narrow road widths and on-street parking.

The City will clear snow from sidewalks on roads with high pedestrian traffic and on bus routes where it is mechanically possible to do so after two centimetres of snow have fallen, and the remaining roads after eight centimetres have fallen. In the central core of the city, property owners are required to clear their sidewalks of snow within 12 hours after a storm.

You can learn more about sidewalk snow-clearing in Toronto and view a map of the areas where the service is provided at http://www.toronto.ca/transportation/snow/sidewalks. 

More information about the City of Toronto’s snow-clearing operations is available at http://www.toronto.ca/transportation/.

Cold weather is a major cause of watermain breaks but it is not the only one. The City is dealing with aging infrastructure, with the average watermain 59 years of age. To address this issue, the City of Toronto has committed $1.76 billion over the next 10 years to upgrade its watermain distribution system. More information can be found at www.toronto.ca/watermains.

Cold weather can also cause pipes inside the home and on private property to freeze.  Residents are reminded to prepare their pipes for winter by wrapping foam pipe insulation around pipes most prone to freezing, especially near outside walls and in crawl spaces, attics and garages. It is also important to seal air leaks around windows and doors, and to disconnect hoses and drain the outdoor water supply. More frozen pipe prevention tips can be found at http://www.toronto.ca/frozenpipes.

Residents can learn more about how to prepare for extreme weather and weatherproof their homes at http://www.toronto.ca/extremeweatherready.

As you may be aware, the College Promenade BIA began an extensive streetscaping project over the course of the summer. The project as originally intended would have reconstructed the north and south side sidewalks of College Street from Shaw St to Rusholme Road with custom pavers. In addition the project is to enhance the public realm with a series of parkette spaces and new custom designed bicycle parking racks. The City of Toronto issued a Notice of Termination to the contractor for failing to comply with the contract provisions. The City immediately mobilized subcontractors to make necessary temporary restorations to the north side of College Street and to render the sidewalk safe and passable.  

Myself and Councillor Layton have been working tirelessly throughout the summer with the BIA and City staff in an effort to resolve issues arising from the project. We fully acknowledge and sympathize with all business owners and residents who feel they have been negatively affected by the construction and the challenges of this project. We will be meeting with staff and the BIA board to develop and implement a plan for the remaining work. The City will re-tender the remaining project work and hire a new contractor next year to complete the work on the south side of College Street and address any deficiencies.

A important part of what makes our community unique and vibrant is the great businesses which line our streets. I encourage you to shop local and support our local businesses along College Street.

This summer the College Promenade Business Improvement Area is carrying out extensive streetscape beautification work along College Street from Havelock to Shaw Streets. This work is the result of a joint planning effort between myself, the BIA, City staff, and the local community. These investments by the College Promenade BIA focus on strong collaboration with local artists and designers to create a dynamic landscape showcasing the best of Toronto's creativity.

A series of "Blue Rooms" and parkettes, designed by Stanislav Jurkovic will combine additional shade and custom designed bench seating with dynamic public artwork and lighting, adding new vibrancy and colour to the neighbourhood. Further streetscape improvements include upgraded decorative paving units, new light posts, 58 new tree plantings and new public artwork. 

In addition to these investments, a series of custom bicycle parking racks, designed by local craftsman Scott Eunson will provide a great piece of public artwork and expand bicycle parking for visitors and shop patrons. Expanding the accessibility of our business to new patrons is an important part of my work to improve the commercial vibrancy of shops across Ward 18 and this investment builds on the expansion of 15 Bike Share stations across our community. I look forward to these streetscape investments being completed and thank the community for for all the feedback which made these improvements a reality. While construction is ongoing, local businesses are still open and I encourage you to shop local and help support our local businesses during the construction!

In addition to this streetscaping work, multiple infrastructure renewal projects are taking place along College Street including TTC streetcar track replacement, road upgrades at the College and Lansdowne intersection and watermain and lead pipe replacement work on Lansdowne south of Dundas Street. For more details on these projects, please click here.

Residents who have on-street parking permits are being asked to delay moving their vehicles to the other side of the street for parking until Tuesday, April 15.

Traditionally, on-street parking takes place on one side of the street for six months of the year and then switches over to the other side of the street for the next six months.  However, due to the heavy snow and ice accumulation, there has been a build up of ice between parked cars and the City of Toronto feels it is not safe or practical to switch sides until the ice and snow has melted.  This change traditionally takes place on April 1.

It is expected that the road will be clear by April 15, allowing alternate parking rules to go into effect on this date.

Toronto Police Service will honour this delay and ticketing for this offence will not begin until April 16 at 9:00 am.  However, where vehicles are parked in a hazardous manner, creating obstructions or hampering the free flow of traffic, tickets will be issued and the vehicles could be towed.

The City of Toronto's Municipal Licensing and Standards division has undertaken a review of the City's bylaws governing boulevard cafés/sidewalk patios as well as the operation of sidewalk stalls outside businesses. The goal is to create one bylaw for Toronto.

Each former municipality has a pre-amalgamation bylaw that regulates boulevard cafe and marketing activities. As a result, the requirements, approval processes, permit types and application fees are different depending on the area where the business is located.

As part of this review, the City is hosting a series of public consultation meetings to discuss the existing bylaws and items to consider when drafting the new bylaw.

Topics include:
- the role of residents and local business owners in the permit issuance process
- minimum sidewalk clearance to accommodate pedestrian traffic
- new opportunities for establishing on-street boulevard cafés curbside and in on-street parking spaces where feasible
- requirements concerning separation of the area including fencing, partial and full enclosures, and
- design guidelines for construction.

Public consultation meetings
Each of the following four meetings will be held from 6 to 8 p.m.
- Thursday, February 6 in City Hall's committee room 2
- Tuesday, February 11 in East York Civic Centre's council chamber
- Thursday, February 13 in Etobicoke Civic Centre's main boardroom
- Tuesday, February 18 in North York Civic Centre's committee room 3

More information or to provide feedback: http://www.toronto.ca/haveyoursay

Staff will report to the Licensing and Standards Committee later this year on the review.